Damien Lawson, a Monroe native, has the chance of lifetime thanks to a successful blind audition on "The Voice," which is now in its seventh season. Lawson is now a part of Adam Levine's team, which means he'll work one-on-one with the Maroon 5 frontman as the singing competition continues.
Lawson first began singing when he was just 3-years-old while in church, according to Monroe TV station KTVE. moved to Los Angeles when he was just 22 in order to pursue his dream to be a professional singer, but after a lot of rejection he landed at a job working for the Transportation Security Administration at the Los Angeles Airport.
By then, was in his mid-30s, but everything changed last November when a shooter openedfire at the airport, which left one TSA employee dead and two others injured.
"I saw my partner go down. He got shot in the leg as I was getting trampled, and another one of my coworkers lost his life," Lawson said.
Lawson was asked to sing at TSA Officer Gerardo Hernandez's funeral.
"It was hard to do this in front of all these people during a sad moment," said Lawson, who sang "I Believe I Can Fly" during the funeral. "After the shooting, it let me know I need to go after my career even more. Tomorrow is never promised to you."
When it came time for his audition on "The Voice," Lawson chose the Boyz II Men track "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday." Within moments, Gwen Stefani, Adam Levine and Pharrell flipped their chairs around to indicate they wanted to help coach Lawson. Before the end of his performance, Blake Shelton wanted Lawson, too, who broke down in tears to see all of his choices and opportunities.
"I've just been told 'no' so many times, it just feels good to see you guys turn around," he said.
"I've just been told 'no' so many times, it just feels good to see you guys turn around," he said.
Ultimately, he chose to land on Levine's team.
"There's no one else like Damien in this competition. I can't wait to get into it with him and make some magic," Levine said.
Read the full story from KTVE here, which includes video from his family back home.
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